Tip O'Neill had heard enough. Incensed by an attack on Democratic
legislators by Republican Congressman Newt Gingrich of Georgia during a
debate last week, the House Speaker dropped his gavel and strode
angrily onto the floor, leaving his Massachusetts colleague Democrat
Joseph Moakley to take the chair. O'Neill shook a finger at Gingrich
and roared, "You challenged their patriotism, and it is the lowest
thing that I have ever seen in my 32 years in Congress!"